In the education field these days, there’s been a rising trend toward huge classes, online lectures and even fully online courses. It’s a response to the growing popularity of higher education, but it’s also for the sake of convenience. However, part of what makes a college experience so exceptionally rewarding and nurturing is the time you spend in the physical space of the college, the classroom discussions, and the people you get to know. Many small liberal arts programs are pushing to keep their classes small and their classrooms physical, not online. But in our increasingly digital world, there will always be a shifting balance between online communities, social interactions and education.
The Digital Frontier
While many large-scale colleges have fully adopted the digital platform for education and discussion, smaller types of educational institutions like an alternative liberal arts college find that their students benefit from greater face-to-face contact and the tactile satisfaction of classic literature.
In the modern era, the increased digitization of education has meant an easier access to information and has enabled cross-continental collaboration and distance education to be taken to a whole new frontier, however there are some who doubt its effectiveness, due to the lack of human contact.
Many schools argue that face-to-face discussions and constant interaction with peers is essential for a well-rounded college education, and that digitizing education means we’d lose a valuable part of a higher education experience. There are institutions that combine education with important team building skills and programs like co-operative study on farms to build collaborative skills and learn what hard work is, and many schools argue that there’s no way to replicate that online.
The Argument for Online Education
While there is certainly a place for education and classroom discussion taking place in a physical space, and something to be said for how that effects our learning, there’s also the fact that we live in an increasingly digital world. Denying students immersive learning platforms online, or eschewing any online presence altogether, means that they will be ill-prepared entering the post-college world as compared to their peers, who have had a wealth of experience with online spaces.
There’s an argument to be made that not exposing students to digital and online components of learning is doing them a disservice by actively ignoring teaching helpful and useful skills. There’s a lot to be said, however, about trying to meet in the middle. Specifically tailoring your college’s online presence to its personality is absolutely integral to retaining the personality, message and beliefs of your educational institution, while still moving forward into the 21st century. While digital may not be the perfect fit for everything in every college, there are definitely areas where it could be beneficial.
While some people may assume that getting a liberal arts degree means a touch of antiquity and burying your head in old tomes, the possibility of modernization is definitely there. The trick is to figure out which areas students can benefit most from online learning, while being aware of how you can minimize the drawbacks. By exploring the possibilities and weighing your options, it’s completely possible to create and online learning space that retains the integrity of your institution, while keeping modern.